Unknown Soldier

This is a good point and was thinking about this myself. What I might do is add vids for the albums reviewed. Either per entry or as a top 10 playlist for the year.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Plankton

It would flow better for the reader, to listen to the tunes as they are reading about them. Just my o tho.

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See location...

Unknown Soldier

I'm adding about 4 videos to each album bit by bit now, luckily I don't have that many to do. Have done 1969 and will add 1970 mañana.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

I'm definitely gonna go through this whole thread someday soon when I'm in the mood and just check all these bands out. Great thread that fills a legitimate void in my understanding of old school/proto metal.

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Unknown Soldier

When this thread reaches the 00's I'll probably be asking for your help and advice. Best way to go through it, is to check out each album and give your opinion.......if you've got the time that is.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Funky hard rock, littered with classic hooks and gems.

Overview
If a rock novice asked me to recommend a couple of the best hard rock albums of the 1970s by well known bands, I'd quickly suggest albums by Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith etc to get them going. But if that same person asked me for something by a lesser known band, then this album from Trapeze would probably be the one I might recommend first. Trapeze were originally a five-piece band from Staffordshire, that focused on a psychedelic sound similar to the Moody Blues and their debut album Trapeze is an underrated psychedelic album from 1970 and well worth checking out if you're into psychedelia. In fact their first two studio albums would be produced by John Lodge of the Moody Blues linking the two bands together. Soon after their first album though, the band trimmed down to a trio and diverted their sound significantly, transferring all their energies to a hard rock setting. Amazingly in the same year with a change of sound, they would put out their sophomore album Medusa. This would be hard rock with a distinctive funky twang and unlike say Grand Funk Railroad whose songs were based around exciting jamming sessions, Trapeze based their general sound on well crafted compositions that were built to last. As a power-trio, they would become respected artists in the 1970s by their peers and as individual talents they would later be in demand throughout the decade. In frontmen Glenn Hughes and Mel Galley they had a winning combination of talent, imagination and drive. Glenn Hughes would later go on to become far better known as part of Deep Purple in the mid 1970s, Mel Galley after the demise of Trapeze, would later feature briefly in Whitesnake and drummer Dave Holland would go on to become the drummer in the 1980s for Judas Priest in their golden commercial period.

Glenn Hughes- Bass/Vocals
Mel Galley- Guitar/Vocals
Drums- Dave Holland

Production- John Lodge

Album
Black Cloud- Instantly kicks off with a funky intro before leading into a very soulful burst of vocals from Glenn Hughes, somewhat akin to either Paul Rodgers of Free or Steve Marriot of Humble Pie on this opening track. Jury- A classic Mel Galley composition that starts off as a ballad, before moving into some amazing sounding crunchy guitar, combined with raspy hard rock vocals before switching back to a heart-searching ballad again, quite simply a fantastic song to listen to. Your Love is Alright- A mid-tempo blues rocker and a joint band effort, in fact the only track written by all three band members, rather than the Hughes or Galley only compositions. Touch My Life- Jumpy guitar track and a real killer, it's heavy on funk and very similar sounding to what was being put out by the James Gang at the time. Seafull- As good as anything that Led Zeppelin ever put out, quite simply an amazing song that covers 6+ minutes, with some amazing guitar laid down by Mel Galley. Makes You Wanna Cry- A song full of the band's classic sounding hooks, which are littered throughout the track. Medusa- The classic title track, quite simply another singing lesson here from Glenn Hughes and some outstanding heavy and soft guitar bits by Mel Galley throughout the song.

Verdict
This is a glorious album in every aspect and in any other year, it would've been good enough to have finished in the number one spot (hell it's that special). The strength of the album, is quite simply in its song structures and the individual talents of its three members. The songs on average tend to be long, but boy did this band know how to fill those minutes out with real quality that other bands could only dream about. The originality of the album is superb as well and every song a winning combo, there's not a duffer in sight! The band have quite simply taken the standard blues rock sound, combined that with superb melodies, classic sounding hooks, a live performance atmosphere and coated the whole thing up in a delicious funky feel. In fact few other bands in the heavy category could match this band song for song around this time. The album has a unique feel and on first listen it very much sounds like the whole thing was recorded by an American band and not a British band, which to me adds to its charm. Talking of American, the whole album reminds me of the James Gang and even a future ZZ Top at times, who were tredding similar ground. The vocals of Glenn Hughes added real feeling to the whole album, his vocal range went from raspy hard rock right down to ballady sensitive sounding and with an almost distant feel at times. The album feels so influential at times and it seems that nearly every song on the album, has influenced a whole load of far better known artists throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Acts such as Bad Company (Free trod similiar ground at the time to Trapeze) Nazareth and the Doobie Brothers etc and onto future AOR giants such as Journey and Foreigner. Glenn Hughes would soon jump ship in a few years to the new MK.III Deep Purple line-up and Mel Galley and Dave Holland, would plod on without him......but they could never be the same without Glenn Hughes in the band, also Glenn Hughes would never ever reach the same brilliance with Deep Purple either. Medusa is quite simply an undoubted classic of its time and overlooked at the listener's peril.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

When you have the world at your feet!

Overview
Led Zeppelin had amazingly made positions one and two in the previous year of 1969 and very nearly made position one again, but there was just one album that was slightly better and that gets the final nod here. Anyway, by the time of their third album, Led Zeppelin were quite simply one of the biggest acts in the world with two legendary albums already behind them. They had the world at their feet and more of the same was expected for their third album, which again just saw them adding the appropriate amount of Roman numerals to their name for the album title, which was III in this case. More of the same music-wise was delivered as well, but with it came a huge change in musical direction and the band offered us greater complexity. The band who had often made no secret of their love of current folk artists such Joni Mitchell, Fairport Convention and Roy Harper to name just a few, would come up with the novel idea of literally splitting their third album into two distinct parts. Side-one would feature their traditional brand of hard rock, but with a greater degree of complexity to the majority of the songs than they had demonstrated before. Side-two on the other hand, would embrace their hidden folky instincts and this would reveal itself in the form of far gentler acoustic folk numbers that would span almost half the album. The album would be recorded at the 'Bron-Y-Aur' cottage in Wales and again was produced by Jimmy Page. The album would remain along with their future album Houses of the Holy, as one of those Led Zeppelin albums that really does divide opinions amongst fans of the band.

Robert Plant-Vocals
Jimmy Page- Guitar
John Paul Jones- Bass/Organ
John Bonham- Drums

Production- Jimmy Page

Album
Immigrant Song- The album opens up with the lumbering battlecry of the "Immigrant Song" and the whole song is literally powered along by Robert Plant's trademark wail. Friends- The first acoustic and folky elements show up here, as the band really rely on a somewhat haunting tune to carry the whole thing through. Celebration Day- One of the great Led Zep tunes and featuring slide guitar here as well, as the band turn blues rock inside out, showing us that they were masters of this sound. Since I've Been Loving You- Slow blues rock at its very best and one of the great guitar songs ever laid down and in my mind it immortalized Jimmy Page as a guitar god. At times the guitar simply sounds alive and the whole thing is amazingly accompanied by an amazing vocal display by Roger Plant, who's full of bluesy lyrics to boot here as well. Out on the Tiles- Is dominated by a tricky sounding riff, that is split into multiple parts, it often seems to be the least recognized song on the first side of the album. Gallows Pole- Kicks off side-two of the album with its acoustic folky feel and is a traditional folk song that flows smoothly along, but the subject tone always gives the song an interesting menacing feel. Tangerine- Almost country influenced and a real gem of a song penned by Jimmy Page. That's the Way- Devoid of drums and one of those songs written at 'Bron-A-Aur' cottage and a perfect example of the second side of the album. Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp- My favourite track on this part of the album, quite simply an infectious romp where you can well imagine the band having a good time whilst composing this. Hats Off to (Roy) Harper- A tribute to then contemporary folk artist Roy Harper, who was good friends with the band and the band make a return to the blues here in the form of country blues variety, again features Jimmy Page on slide guitar.

Verdict
Just listening to this album shows how the band had grown musically in just a very short time and it was obvious that the band weren't interested in living on past laurels here. They knew in order to musically grow, that they had to take a number of musical risks and they did that on this album with some stunning results. Most of the compositions that make up this album, show a greater depth than the band had demonstrated before, their riffs were now more complex, songs split into more multi-parts and a few turned inside out. Giving us a delightful example of a band at its creative height. I'd even go as far to say, that side-one of the album may rank as one of the strongest selection of songs that the band ever put out. The flip side of the record on side-two, shows us how the band really embraced their love of folk music and very easily made these folk tunes truly their own. The album as a whole, demonstrates how Led Zeppelin within their chosen musical genres of both blues rock and folk rock here, were able to truly become masters of their own destiny music wise, not always an easy thing to pull off, especially with the eyes of the world on you. This album quite simply ranks up there, as one of the band's early golden releases from their most acclaimed early to mid-1970s time period. This of course is being said in hindsight, as critics once again critically mauled the album back in the day. Some detractors of the album, often voice their complaints over the fact, that one whole side of the album was given over to folk tunes alone, rather than be spread out between songs, which most other bands may have done. For these reasons alone, the album is often a dividing point between Led Zeppelin fans as to how good the album actually is. Over the years, I've often heard Led Zeppelin fans claim this as the bands very best release, whilst others tend to see it as no more than a novelty. For years I fell somewhere between these two camps and their points of view, but now I'm firmly with the former viewpoint.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

How to bludgeon the listener into submission.

Overview
In September 1970 Black Sabbath released their second set Paranoid and in the few months since the release of their debut album (at no.6 on this list) they had managed to refine their sound significantly. Paranoid would quite simply launch Black Sabbath into the major league and finally deliver 'heavy metal' to the masses. As one of the most famous album in metaldom, Paranoid just about makes a high position on just about every best metal and guitar list out there. For the actual recording of the album, gone would be the extensive jamming and filler that had plagued side-two of the their debut, to be replaced by far tighter and more focused songs, songs that would go on to become timeless metal classics. The band also had the foresight and the good fortune to release the title track of the album, before the release of the album proper, thus giving them the perfect launchpad for the album itself. I've often read how the song "Paranoid" was just a last minute addition to the album itself as they were actually short of a song, Tony Iommi had the riff and the rest of the band worked off that. It often seems, the rock is littered with great songs which often came from last ditch efforts. Also the song "Paranoid" was one of the lighter efforts on the album and therefore was an ideal choice for a lead single. As for the album itself, the music would now be far more focused and tightened up in every aspect. The band greatly extended their subject matter beyond that of the occult that had dominated on their debut album and they now included subjects such as death, war, nuclear annihilation, the supernatural and drug abuse. The album would again be produced by Rodger Bain, who had been on production duties on their debut and again the compositions would be real band efforts. The album itself was originally going to be called "War Pigs" but with the label fearing a backlash in the USA due to the then ongoing Vietnam War, they refrained from using that name and went with "Paranoid" instead.

Ozzy Osbourne- Vocals
Tony Iommi- Guitar
Geezer Butler- Bass
Bill Ward- Drums

Production- Rodger Bain

Album
War Pigs- The opening track on the debut album started off with church bells, these are now replaced with with an air-raid siren for "War Pigs". The song gradually picks up before going through a series of amazing stop-start dynamics lasting around 7 minutes, it's an anti-war song and also a band classic. Paranoid- The title track/lead single is catchy and instantly infectious, an amazing 2.50 minute blast of a song. Planet Caravan- Sabbath quite often would mx up their trademark bludgeoning sound with softer numbers and none came more trippy than this song, another essential. Iron Man- The slow opening pounding of "Iron Man" must have amazed listeners at the time, with its ultra slow and highly original opening. The song then gradually picks up the pace and eventually finishes up by going into one of metal's most identifiable guitar riffs, possibly the best track on the whole album. Electric Funeral- Almost seems like a continuation of "Iron Man" with it's doomy feel and subject matter, another album favourite. Hand of Doom- Another slow intro and a song about drug abuse and the Vietnam War. The song finally jumps up another gear in pace, I could listen to this song all day. Rat Salad- The band had got their lengthy jamming sessions wrong on their debut album, but here they get it just right and some great drumming by Bill Ward. Fairies Wear Boots- Delightful title which came about after a cannabis session, the song again has quite simply an amazing pace with a throbbing rhythm section throughout, before an amazing phase out section to finish the album......and you know you've just heard a classic. I swear Van Halen swiped that opening few seconds from the song intro.

Verdict
An album perfect in every aspect and a 'bona fide' metal classic without any shadow of a doubt, that is full of stellar tracks and some amazing playing by the band. The leaps and bounds that the band made in such a short period of time since their debut was outstanding and in many ways reminiscent of what the Beatles had achieved a couple of years earlier in terms of musical progress. The tightness of the songs, the playing and the diversity are at times simply outstanding. Music critics have in hindsight, often pointed to other material by other bands around at the same time, that had a similar musical content as Sabbath around this time, but none of these bands did it as well as Sabbath and they certainly didn't have an album's worth of the same quality material either. No other band could match the dark subject matter that Sabbath were putting out around this time either. As stated above, the band were covering topics in their songs such as death, war, nuclear annihilation, the supernatural and drug abuse. Other bands throughout the decade would touch on these areas but it wouldn't be until the arrival of thrash in the 1980s, that metal could ever sound so evil again. On a musical level, the stop start dynamics, along with the slow-fast feel of most of the songs, were beyond what any of their rivals were doing. It was on this album that I feel that Tony Iommi earned his title 'The Godfather of Heavy Metal'. The rhythm section of both Geezer Butler and Bill Ward on certain songs, are just simply throbbing with raw power and Ozzy just seems at one with practically every song on the album. The album quite often gets lauded as one of metal's most revered works, if you doubt that for one minute, then give this album a listen and you'll see why.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Musicfanatic

I bet if I had a flat screen monitor, one that's in the widescreen variety, I'd be able to view your last couple with Youtube vids without having to scroll left to right. Getting one here soon, I hope...

Neapolitan

At first I thought US was only posting two videos too. I have a flat screen and it doesn't make a difference, if they were line up 2X2 it might help, but maybe his prefers the ascetic of having them juxtapose four across on the bottom.

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